Moto X comes to UK (yes, that phone launched last August in the US)
Last year, everyone eagerly awaited news of the Moto X, a phone that turned out to be offered to US customers only. Great news for them, but less so for us – until today.
Assembled in the USA, and with the ability to customise the casing via a unique ‘Moto Maker‘ website, it was an impressive phone with an extremely innovative way to personalise the phone (when ordered online). From ordering to delivery took took around four days.
Motorola even created an amazing interactive print ad for the Moto XÂ in the run up to Christmas.
Although it isn’t necessarily any less impressive now, the UK launch of the Moto X is still six months after the original announcement, so it doesn’t seem quite as impressive as it would have been then – especially following the launch of the awesome Moto G.
Sure, the Moto G doesn’t have 4G or NFC, the Moto X’s 10-megapixel camera, or most of the clever software and hardware features that come with it – but the Moto X will sell for £380 SIM-free for the 16GB model (a 32GB model will also be available) compared to £160 for the Moto G with 16GB.
Some people will be able to make do with the 8GB Moto G at just £135, or even less if you shop around.
That’s a huge difference for a phone that doesn’t even look that different, making it quite an ask for a phone with some features that you can probably live without anyway.
How often will you want to shout ‘OK Google Now’ and ask the phone questions, or create reminders? Possibly if you’re driving a lot, but otherwise it’s not too hard to use a few taps to trigger the voice service instead.
And the flick camera action (two flicks of the wrist) could easily be replaced with a dedicated camera button, especially as it requires getting the motion correct if you don’t want to end up missing the moment completely. To be fair, when you do, you’ll be ready to shoot in around two seconds.
Finally, the Moto X in the UK won’t have that Moto Maker service – one of the features that made the offering so enticing, although it is planned for the future. When that comes, things might be different – but by then we might also be looking at a newer version of the phone anyway.
For now you’ll have to choose black from most retailers (such as Carphone Warehouse and Amazon) or white (as an exclusive at Phones 4u).
The Moto X will be available on contract and SIM-free, and I hope to have a device to review in a couple of weeks. Of course, given the phone has been out in the US for months, it’s hardly difficult to find plenty of reviews already.
Moto X Voice control + Camera launch action demonstration
The phone in the video had to be set up initially by saying ‘OK Google Now’ three times in learning mode.